What do we really hear?

What do we really hear?

My inspiration for asking this, was watching a dog run around a field, sniffing at every opportunity. Probably recognising friends and enemies, male and female. The dog has a wide spectrum of smells. Then I think of my knowledge of smells. If I am looking for a new cologne, then after 3 different odours, it is all over for me. I won't recognise the fourth perfume as new or one of the original three. I could not go into a shop and pick out the perfume my lady friend uses, despite trying to spend a lot of time enjoying that smell. However, if I hear a tune, I would be able to whistle it, remember it and go into a record shop (if such existed these days) and have the assistant tell me what it was. Surely the way we appreciate sound and music must vary to the same extent as the dog's and my nose vary!

I have talked with friends who say they cannot pick up the beat of music, any music! Some who can, then fail when it comes to walking with a partner in their arms. Other friends cannot pick up a tune and have to learn the words of a song and the words drive the tune. I would have to know the tune and most of the time be la-la-ing until I remembered a few words.

At the top end of the acoustic appreciation spectrum will be true musicians. I used to play recorder and was part of a group of 20 or more with a professional conductor who could pick out somebody playing slightly out of tune. Most people will be in between those extremes. I listen most intensely to classic tango music. As most dancers, I can hear the layers of the music, pick out different instruments to dance to. When you feel your partner is responding to the music in the same way, it is bliss.

But what do some people hear? Is it just a cacophony of noise - how can you dance if you just hear white noise? How can musicality be taught?

Nietzsche "The onlookers thought the dancers were crazy, until they heard the music"

Tango and Tai Chi - 4

Tango and Tai Chi

A superficial view of tai chi is that it appears to be mostly waving arms about. In Debbie Spencer's class we emphasised that the whole body was involved in every position.

If we take "brushed left knee" as example. If it were just arms - the left hand, parallel to the ground, just above the left knee - the right hand, pushing forward, hand at right angles to the ground and about shoulder height - there would no strength in that pose. However the whole body supports the position with the muscles of the back linking the two arms in a secure semi-circle. The right leg is straight and directly supporting the right arm. It would take extreme force to distort the position.

Tai chi, like tango, is not arm lead but the whole body is involved.

I relate this tai chi experience to my tango embrace. I don't just casually offer my arms to my partner, for a loose embrace for a stroll around the dance floor. As in tai chi my back muscles link my arms so that I create a cylinder for my partner to dance within. My chest leads and my arms follow.

Yoga - Breathing - Tango

Yoga - Breathing - Tango

We have all struggled to master a routine, only to suddenly realise we are not breathing, and had to gasp for breath. Obviously we have to relax enough to breathe easily and smoothly to carry us through any physical activity. 

In Debbie Spencer's yoga class we practice different breathing techniques. Expelling air in different ways, breathing in high in the chest or low in the belly, using the diaphragm. In certain postures we can breathe predominately into one lung. All of this give us more control over our body and can ensure we make the best use of our lungs since it is breathing, after all, which keeps us alive!

In tango the breath give us a means to control dynamic expression by the body. A sustained intake of breath can herald a pause. Both partners may hold their breath to make the pause full of tension. An exhalation of breath means we move into the next step full of intention in the dance.

Sometimes the use of breath is more significant in the dance than what our feet do!

Song of the month - 2 - Loca

Tango song of the month - 2 - Loca

Loca is often just an instrumental but it does have lyrics. Loca translates as crazy woman. (Surely loco must be an oxymoron!) This is translated as prostitute or tramp, as the woman of the song is trapped in the sex trade.

Here is a link to a version with the lyrics.

https://youtu.be/1pNN2ITF73Y

Translation by Tango Decoder

Loca, me llaman mis amigos, que sólo son testigos de mi liviano amor. Loca... ¿Qué saben lo que siento, ni qué remordimiento se oculta en mi interior? Yo tengo, con alegrías, que disfrazar mi tristeza, y que hacer de mi cabeza las pesadillas huir. Yo tengo que ahogar en copas la pena que me devora... Cuando mi corazón llora, mis labios deben reír. Yo, si a un hombre lo desprecio, tengo que fingirle amores; y admiración, cuando es necio; y si es cobarde, temores. Yo que no he pertenecido al ambiente en que ahora estoy, he de olvidar lo que he sido y he de olvidar lo que soy. Loca, me dicen mis amigos, que sólo son testigos de mi liviano amor. Loca, ¿Qué saben lo que siento, ni qué remordimiento se oculta en mi interior? Allá muy lejos, muy lejos, donde el sol cae cada día, un tranquilo hogar había y en el hogar unos viejos. La vida y su encanto era una muchacha que huyó sin decirles dónde fuera... y esa muchacha soy yo. Ya no existe más la casa, ya no existen más los viejos y una muchacha muy lejos, sufriendo la vida pasa. Y al caer todos los días en aquella tierra el sol, caen con él mis alegrías y muere mi corazón.

Tramp, they call me, my friends, they who see only my easy virtue. Tramp... What do they know of what I feel Or what terrible remorse Is hidden inside of me. I have to disguise my sadness with gaiety and make my worries flee from my mind. I have to drown in drink the sorrow that devours me.... When my heart weeps My lips have to laugh Though I despise a man, I have to pretend to love him; to admire him if he’s a fool; and to fear him if he’s a coward. I wasn’t always part of this scene I’m in now, so I have to forget what I have been and forget what I am. Tramp, they call me, my friends, they who see only my easy virtue. Tramp... How can they know who I am Or what remorse Is hidden inside of me? There, far, far away Where the sun sets each day, There was a peaceful home And in that home, some old folks. Their life and their darling was a girl who ran away Without saying where she was going... And that girl was me. Today that house no longer exists. Today those old folks no longer exist Today the girl, far away, Passes her life in suffering. And as the sun sinks each day In that land, My happiness sinks with it And my heart dies.

Orchestra of the month - 2 - D'Arienzo.

Orchestra of the month - 2 - D'Arienzo

D'Arienzo (1900-1976) gets a lot of criticism as his music is not sophisticated, indeed, described by some as hardly better than banging two saucepans together. However the Golden Age of tango music dates from 1935 and that is entirely due to D'Arrienzo and nobody else. He realised what the Porteños wanted and gave it to them and Buenos Aires danced. His music is intensely rhythmic and he justifies his title, El Rey de la Compas - the King of the Beat!

Rodolfo Biagi joined him on the piano and was loved for his brilliant playing. Some say Biagi left D'Arienzo amicably to further develop tango music and he did form his own band. There is a story that the crowd were appreciating Biagi's playing and directed their applause to him. He responded by taking a bow. That was not to D'Arrienzo's liking and  he is reported to have said "Señor Biagi, there is only one star in this orchestra, and it's me. You're fired!"

Michael Levocah has not written a book devoted to D'Arienzo (yet) but gives good coverage in "Tango Music Secrets".

There is a modern orchestra La Juan D'Arienzo, formed by the grandson of one who played in the original orchestra. Get to see them if you can and they give amazing musicality workshops.

We can compare the new and the old versions of a couple of classic tunes, Loca and Hotel Victoria.

There are wonderful YouTube videos of the original band. D'Arienzo loved the camera! Search in YouTube for Nada Mas or Loca and D'Arrienzo. You will not be disappointed to see the great man in action.

Orchestra - Troilo

Orchestra of the month - Troilo

The definitive work on Troilo (1914-1975) is Michael Lavocah's book

Tango Masters: Anibal Troilo.

The book describes Troilo the man "loved by everybody because he loved everybody" and Troilo the musician "el bandoneon mayor de Buenos Aires". The best bandoneon player in Buenos Aires, probably the best ever! He recorded from 1938 to 1969. "The hallmarks of this orchestra were its vibrant sound, its ability to deliver a lyric, and the colour and shading of its music"

Astor Piazzolla played in the orchestra from 1940-44.

All orchestras had speeded up following D'Arienzo's lead in 1935. The dancers wanted it! However come 1942, there was a slow down. Troilo incorporated a cello, resulting in a broadening and smoother sound to the strings. The pivotal piece of music is the 1942 recording of Malena. From that moment, Troilo can be regarded as the best orchestra for tango salon.

Tango Lyrics - Malena

Tango song of the month 

Malena (1942)

From www.planet-tango.com

Malena canta el tango como ninguna y en cada verso pone su corazon. A yuyo del suburbio su voz perfuma, Malena tiene pena de bandoneon. Tal vez, alla en la infancia, su voz de alondra tomo ese tono oscuro del callejon, o acaso aquel romance que solo nombra cuando se pone triste con el alcohol. Malena canta el tango con voz de sombra; Malena tiene pena de bandoneón. Tu cancion tiene el frio del ultimo encuentro, tu cancion se hace amarga en la sal del recuerdo. Yo no se si tu voz es la flor de una pena, solo se que al rumor de tus tangos, Malena, te siento mas buena, mas buena que yo. Tus ojos son oscuros como el olvido, tus labios, apretados como el rencor, tus manos, dos palomas que sienten frio, tus venas tienen sangre de bandoneon. Tus tangos son criaturas abandonadas que cruzan sobre el barro del callejon, cuando todas las puertas estan cerradas y ladran los fantasmas de la cancion. Malena canta el tango con voz quebrada; Malena tiene pena de bandoneon.

Malena sings the tango like no one else and in every single verse she pours her heart. Like a slum weed her voice exude Malena has the sadness of a bandoneon. Perhaps, back in her childhood, her lark’s voice acquired that dark intonation of a back alley, or maybe it is the romance she only names when she gets sad with the alcohol. Malena sings the tango with a somber voice; Malena has the sadness of a bandoneon. Your song has the cold of the last encounter, your song embitters itself with a salty remembrance. I don’t know if your voice is the bloom of a sadness; all I know that in the muttering of your tangos, Malena, I sense you are better, much better than me. Your eyes are dark like the oblivion, your lips, pressed tight in a grimace of rancor your hands, two doves that suffer the cold, your veins have blood of bandoneon. Your tangos are forsaken creatures that walk across the mud of a back alley, when all the doors are locked and the spirits of the song howl. Malena sings the tango with a choking voice, Malena has the sadness of a bandoneon.